The present invention relates to a fruit juice-containing beverage. More specifically, it relates to a beverage which exhibits little sedimentation, has low viscosity and possesses an excellent flavor derived from the fruit juice, as well as to a process for its production and processed mango juice used therein.
Fruit juice is the juice obtained by pressing healthy mature fruit, and beverages using fruit juice as the raw material (hereunder referred to as “fruit juice-containing beverages”) include non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks and the like, and alcoholic beverages such as wines and liqueurs.
Fruit juice consists of water-soluble components and insoluble components and, therefore, is cloudy. The insoluble components are composed of fibrous matter, proteins, pectins, gummy matter and the like, and have the effect of providing the mild taste and richness characteristic of natural fruits (“Inryo Yogo Jiten” [Dictionary of Beverage Terms], published by Beverage Japan, p.70), thus constituting an important contribution to the flavor of fruit juice-containing beverages. The insoluble components are composed of insoluble solids (hereunder referred to as “pulp”) as defined according to the Japan Agricultural Standards Test, and other insoluble components.
However, fruit juice-containing beverages prepared from fruit juices as raw materials have required methods for preventing sedimentation, because the insoluble components precipitate, leading to easy sedimentation with passage of time and thus lowering the product value. In order to prevent sedimentation it has been common to use non-cloudy, transparent fruit juice (clarified fruit juice), or to use fruit juice with reduced pulp content, i.e., depulped fruit juice, but removal of the pulp which is one of the flavor components creates the problem of loss of the excellent flavor derived from the fruit juice.
One type of beverage which exhibits little sedimentation and maintains the excellent flavor derived from juice is Nectar (registered trademark). This is a creamy, viscous beverage with lower sedimentation, obtained by mechanically refining (homogenizing) the pulp portion in fruit using a high-pressure homogenizer or the like, to increase the turbidity.
However, low viscosity beverages, i.e. beverages that are easy to drink and have excellent swallowability are highly desired on the commercial market, and several inventions have been developed for the purpose of both preventing sedimentation of insoluble components and reducing viscosity.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication HEI No. 6-269263 discloses an insoluble component-containing beverage obtained by addition of low strength agar with adjusted jelly strength and agar concentration, the agar component molecules of which are shortened, with the object of providing a beverage with lower sedimentation of insoluble components while maintaining smooth swallowability without a pasty feel.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication HEI No. 8-154637 discloses a solid pulp-containing peach beverage and process for its production, with the object of providing a process for production of a peach beverage which gives a refreshing feeling with the flavor of peach pulp, and is easy to drink.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication HEI No. 11-206349 discloses chopped pulp sacs and a process for production of chopped pulp sacs and a pulp sac-containing beverage, where the object is to provide a pulp sac-containing beverage with superior swallowability and texture without losing the natural image of a citrus pulp sac-containing beverage, while avoiding the problem of fluid leakage even when paper containers are used.
These inventions all provide processes with their respective features, but they are each partially unsatisfactory in regard to the issue of providing beverages with little sedimentation, low viscosity and the excellent flavor derived from fruit juice, and hence there is a need for development of a technique which offers a wider range of application by a more simple method.